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Worth upgrading CPU or getting a new motherboard?

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Now i have i5 6400k 2.70ghz that's not overclockable, and i wanted to play some of the newer games at okay settings so it doesn't lag the *beep* out of it... should i invest in an upgraded CPU or buy a new motherboard? what i have listed in my specs is what i have right now...

any ideas on WHICH cpu i should go for? preferably a budget one, if possible.

thanks in advance.
 
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Benchmark Scores They're pretty good, nothing crazy.
you can probably get a used 7700 or 6700k pretty cheap.

I think anything less and you wouldnt really notice a huge difference.

i think a gfx card upgrade and some tweaking of the memory might get you best bang/buck.
 
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you can probably get a used 7700 or 6700k pretty cheap.

I think anything less and you wouldnt really notice a huge difference.

i think a gfx card upgrade and some tweaking of the memory might get you best bang/buck.

so.. instead of upgrading the cpu, i should upgrade my gpu? which gpu then? cannot afford that expensive buy, but i'd listen to your suggestions.

also, sorry for not updating my memory, but check my specs now. i just updated it. i think that memory will do fine for now. :)
 
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Your board is new enough i think either one those option's planbuey said would decent upgrade for performance. As noted in your spec's you are using a gtx970 which if your lag is fps being kinda low that is why. That gpu is bit long in the tooth now days and would be better upgrade then a cpu.

edit: you are more then good on memory side, 32gb is more then most need as you can get away with 16gb right now.
 
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The i5-6400 should not be that slow. I don't see anything about your system that should be slow at 1080P, unless you're throwing ultra high setting with mods at it.
cannot afford that expensive buy
What's your budget?
 
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Your board is new enough i think either one those option's planbuey said would decent upgrade for performance. As noted in your spec's you are using a gtx970 which if your lag is fps being kinda low that is why. That gpu is bit long in the tooth now days and would be better upgrade then a cpu.

edit: you are more then good on memory side, 32gb is more then most need as you can get away with 16gb right now.

The i5-6400 should not be that slow. I don't see anything about your system that should be slow at 1080P, unless you're throwing ultra high setting with mods at it.

What's your budget?

interesting posts you two come with. so instead of upping the cpu, i should up the gpu? which gpu should i go for that's better than my current one? my gpu budget would be somewhere around $200-250... i know it's probably way too low, but can i find something that's better than my current gpu for that price, or?

yes, i got very lucky with that RAM for about $60 or so. :)
 
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That would only buy a side grade. Maybe you could find a GTX 980 Ti, but then we'd need to look at your PSU. Ideally, a GTX 1070 Ti.

Edit: Wait a minute. I forgot that there's a GTX 1070 listed for $200 on my local CL. That would be an almost 40% upgrade over your 970.
 
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interesting posts you two come with. so instead of upping the cpu, i should up the gpu? which gpu should i go for that's better than my current one? my gpu budget would be somewhere around $200-250... i know it's probably way too low, but can i find something that's better than my current gpu for that price, or?
Yes, very interesting posts, instead of addressing the lack of overclocking you mention, they suggest throwing lots of money at it.
A new overclockable Motherboard would be the cheapest and first option.
A new GPU should be the second option.

Edit: You incorrectly listed your CPU as a K version, when there is no K version available, ignore my comment re Motherboard.
 
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Yes, very interesting posts, instead of addressing the lack of overclocking you mention, they suggest throwing lots of money at it.
A new overclockable Motherboard would be the cheapest and first option.
A new GPU should be the second option.

Edit: You incorrectly listed your CPU as a K version, when there is no K version available, ignore my comment re Motherboard.

gotcha. fixed the K now. thanks.

so, you too recommend that i go for a new/better gpu instead? interesting, for sure!
 

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I personally think that, that 6400 might end up being a slight bottle neck for more powerful GPUs. I know the GTX970 is a very capable GPU for 1080p and maybe even 1440p but im inclined to say that it would of suffered power creep at 1440p given how old it is.

A GTX 1060 6GB card would make a nice upgrade and probably work just fine with your 6400.

I would consider upgrading to a good AMD system if youre on a budget though. They are extremely bang for buck. these days and would cover many bases for you.
 
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A GTX 1060 6GB card would make a nice upgrade
It's basically a side grade. Only 14% faster so not worth it IMHO. Same with the GTX 980 and an RX 470/480/570/580.
 

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It's basically a side grade. Only 14% faster so not worth it IMHO. Same with the GTX 980 and an RX 470/480/570/580.

1060s are fairly cheap and 6GB is better than what the 970s have. Depending on games played and resolution. I think a 1060 is worth considering. The 1060 will go a lot further than the 970 would.
 

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If I were you, keep your rig and upgrade the CPU to a 6700K and call it a day.

Is that board even able to overclock stabily?

6 phase vrm, good or bad for overclocking to intel buffs?
https://www.asus.com/us/Motherboards/B150M-A/specifications/

6700K and 7700K are supported by this list.

https://www.asus.com/us/Motherboards/B150M-A/HelpDesk_CPU/

Memory QVL
https://www.asus.com/us/Motherboards/B150M-A/HelpDesk_QVL/

Overclocking any CPU is very dependent on how good or bad the VRM phases, capacitors are, and how efficient your heatsink is.

If you get a 6700 K or 7700 k make sure you get a aftermarket heatsink if not already.

Before you update to new cpu for this socket get this bios.

https://dlcdnets.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/LGA1151/B150M-A/B150M-A-ASUS-3606.zip

Then this one.

https://dlcdnets.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/LGA1151/B150M-A/B150M-A-ASUS-3610.zip

Then this one.

https://dlcdnets.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/LGA1151/B150M-A/B150M-A-ASUS-3805.zip

Then this one last.

https://dlcdnets.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/LGA1151/B150M-C/MEUpdateTool_11.8.55.3510_I.zip
 
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If I were you, keep your rig and upgrade the CPU to a 6700K and call it a day.

Is that board even able to overclock stabily?

6 phase vrm, good or bad for overclocking to intel buffs?
https://www.asus.com/us/Motherboards/B150M-A/specifications/

6700K and 7700K are supported by this list.

https://www.asus.com/us/Motherboards/B150M-A/HelpDesk_CPU/

Memory QVL
https://www.asus.com/us/Motherboards/B150M-A/HelpDesk_QVL/

Overclocking any CPU is very dependent on how good or bad the VRM phases, capacitors are, and how efficient your heatsink is.

If you get a 6700 K or 7700 k make sure you get a aftermarket heatsink if not already.

Before you update to new cpu for this socket get this bios.

https://dlcdnets.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/LGA1151/B150M-A/B150M-A-ASUS-3606.zip

Then this one.

https://dlcdnets.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/LGA1151/B150M-A/B150M-A-ASUS-3610.zip

Then this one.

https://dlcdnets.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/LGA1151/B150M-A/B150M-A-ASUS-3805.zip

Then this one last.

https://dlcdnets.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/LGA1151/B150M-C/MEUpdateTool_11.8.55.3510_I.zip
B150 is not overclockable at all.
 

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How odd it supports 6700K/7700K. I guess it will run at bclk only?

The lower boards will usually all support the K processors. You can put the processors in them, and they will run, but there is no overclocking options at all in anything but the Z chipsets. I don't even think they offer BCLK adjustment.

So we are looking at a board and CPU upgrade.
 

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The lower boards will usually all support the K processors. You can put the processors in them, and they will run, but there is no overclocking options at all in anything but the Z chipsets. I don't even think they offer BCLK adjustment.
The lower boards will usually all support the K processors. You can put the processors in them, and they will run, but there is no overclocking options at all in anything but the Z chipsets. I don't even think they offer BCLK adjustment.

So we are looking at a board and CPU upgrade.

If It was me personally with this board I would dive into that bios for cpu configuration under Advanced Mode and AI tweaker to see what is available.

The mobo manual doesnt tell you whats under those sub menus.
 
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So we are looking at a board and CPU upgrade.
Why? The i5-6400 (2.7/3.30 GHz) is only slightly slower than the i5-7400 (3.0/ 3.50 GHz) which is not even 7% slower than the i5-8400, which is just fine for gaming. Actually, the OP's system should be fine for 1080P, unless they bump into the VRAM issue with the 970.
 
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If I was the OP, I'd sell the Intel cpu & board, upgrade to 2600X zen+ goodness. If on a budget, X370 boards are pretty cheap nowadays. That or go B450 board to fully utilize XFR2 technology, & boards with that chipset are pretty cheap in comparision to X470.

Just my AMD biased opinion... :laugh:
 
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Or, y'know, 6700K for ~$200, which would be a side grade or faster than that Ryzen. As for a better GPU, they're multiple 1070's listed for under $250, last time I checked there was a decent dual fan PNY for $235+ shippimg
 
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On my local craigslist I have seen a few people selling the 7700k for $220 but I have no idea how cheap you could find one in Europe. You also have the option to get a 6700k or a straight Core i7-7700.

With that whole overclocking thing to the i5-6400, you'd have to buy a z170 board then you'd have to roll back the BIOS to an older version. You should be able to overclock through the baseclock with an older BIOS. Here in the U.S. I can buy an ASRock Extreme 6 z170 board on amazon for around $100 and other z170 boards are in the $80-100 range on ebay as well. While I have heard that people can reach 4.4ghz with an overclocked i5 Skylake CPU, I don't know how well it would compete with a 7700k. I guess that would depend on how the game uses the resources.

Is it possible for you to use Task Manager, HWMonitor, or another program to track your hardware usages while you're playing the games that cause the lag?

IMO, I think it's hard to justify sticking with the Skylake platform when you can buy a Ryzen 5 or Core i5 CPU for a pretty good price along with a b360 or b450 board. In some benchmarks I have seen the i5-6400 struggle because of it's low clockspeed. You can look at your budget but if you can save up an extra $100 rather quickly then it may be worth it to save the money then jump to one of the newer platforms. The only downside is these Intel 14nm chip shortages won't make the prices of their parts very good.

The first thing I recommend doing is figuring out if it's your GPU or CPU that's causing the lag. Is it a setting, driver issue or a piece of hardware at 100%? Once you have that addressed then you can hunt for new hardware. As far as the CPU goes, if you can get a used i7-6700k, 7700, or 7700k for a good price then go with that. The 7700k matches up well against the Core i5-8600k in benchmarks. Make sure the BIOS has been updated before installing a 7th Gen CPU since you have a 100 series board. The 7700k might need a cooler that's better than the stock cooler.

If it's the GPU that's causing the problem, then a GTX 1070 would be a meaningful upgrade. The GTX 970 matches up against the 3gb GTX 1060 and the 6gb version would only get you a few more Frames per second. The 3gb GTX 1060 has had 11% of it's shaders cut compared to the 6gb version. Cheap AMD Polaris cards and GTX 1060, 1070 cards are starting to surface because many Alt coins are at the point of not being profitable to mine, unless the miner is operating somewhere that has incredibly low electric rates.
 
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Wow, thanks for the many inputs!

maybe this video of my bios can show you what you guys are talking about:

im more tempted to go for the easier option; upping the gpu to a 1070. i see several 1070's going for $200-250 range, which is workable for me.

and yes, things are quite more expensive over here in europe, but i use ebay quuuuite a lot, and i know that a lot of buys from ebay are either used and/or the warranty can be uncertain etc., but it gives me good prices combined with shipping etc.

regarding the lagging, it really doesn't lag awfully much, but every now and then in a span of 10 mins or so, and the lag isn't even that heavy. just for a short second. and yes, it might be my settings that aren't optimal etc., so i will do some testing with different settings and all to see how it turns out.

also, if i ask you lot this: upgrading cpu for $200-250 or upgrading gpu for $200-250, which will give me better results? im not as techie as you lot are, so to me, it seems to be more straight forward upping the gpu than starting to get myself a new motherboard + cpu...
 

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@minstreless what graphics card have you got? Sorry, I'm on the mobile app which doesn't show your specs.

@W1zzard any chance of fixing this one?
 

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If It was me personally with this board I would dive into that bios for cpu configuration under Advanced Mode and AI tweaker to see what is available.

The mobo manual doesnt tell you whats under those sub menus.

There won't be anything there for overclocking, just some memory adjustment stuff. Intel has locked down their lower chipsets from overclocking for generations now.

Why? The i5-6400 (2.7/3.30 GHz) is only slightly slower than the i5-7400 (3.0/ 3.50 GHz) which is not even 7% slower than the i5-8400, which is just fine for gaming. Actually, the OP's system should be fine for 1080P, unless they bump into the VRAM issue with the 970.

I was just speaking in the context of if the OP decides to do a CPU upgrade to something overclockable, he would need a CPU and Motherboard. The i5-6400 isn't an amazing gaming chip, but it should be able to keep up. Though the low boost clock on the i5 certainly might be causing some bad 1% lows, which could be the lag the OP was complaining about.

But I'd personally upgrade the GPU first, then consider the CPU if lag is still an issue. Even if he just upgrades to a 7700K with his current motherboard, knowing that overclocking isn't an option. But the 1GHz increase in clock speed should eliminate any 1% low issues in framerate.

Wow, thanks for the many inputs!

maybe this video of my bios can show you what you guys are talking about:

It's not overclockable.

im more tempted to go for the easier option; upping the gpu to a 1070. i see several 1070's going for $200-250 range, which is workable for me.

That's what I would do. And, like I said, if you still have lag you can look at upgrading your CPU. Try to pick up a used 7700k. You won't be able to overclock it in your current motherboard, but it is already clocked plenty high enough that it won't be a problem.

@minstreless what graphics card have you got? Sorry, I'm on the mobile app which doesn't show your specs.

@W1zzard any chance of fixing this one?

Turn the phone horizontal.
 
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Now i have i5 6400k 2.70ghz that's not overclockable, and i wanted to play some of the newer games at okay settings so it doesn't lag the *beep* out of it... should i invest in an upgraded CPU or buy a new motherboard? what i have listed in my specs is what i have right now...

any ideas on WHICH cpu i should go for? preferably a budget one, if possible.

thanks in advance.
You do not have an i5-6400k, because it doesn't exist. Also your B150 motherboard does not allow overclocking the multiplier even if you had a K CPU, so you'd need a new board as well. You should have been aware of these limitations when you bought your system. At this point, it would only make sense to go with all new parts, even faster RAM - 32 GB ram is great overkill, but more RAM does not = faster system - faster RAM = faster system, more RAM only helps if you are always running low due to to much multi-tasking. Start over, don't waste more money trying to fix your original mistakes.
 
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